Beachwood—Create a sustainable destination

Letter

By on Mon, August 24, 2009

I'd like to discuss an opportunity for this community to turn the Beachwood fiasco into a sustainable attraction that helps our economy, and maybe get federal funds to do it. Why not transform Beachwood into a Sustainability Lab?

With potential exhibits on solar, wind, and biomass power, water conservation, fisheries preservation, organic farming, etc. the Coastside Sustainability Lab could become a destination in itself, bringing school groups and interested adults into the area where they can spend money at our existing businesses.

The federal government is looking to fund green energy initiatives, perhaps our congressional delegation can help us secure funding where our state legislators could not. We'd have to design it so it wouldn't be an eyesore, but such an attraction could promote healthy, informed lifestyle choices and possibly help us recoup some of the money we've already poured down the drain.

It's just an idea, extremely far from implementation. But let's start the discussion and see where it takes us. I think the idea has more potential than leasing the field to another farmer, but it would require a unified effort that's not very characteristic of this community. Can we do it?

Steve Slomka